Japan spending $7 billion building 250-mile-long sea wall

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Back in 2011 Japan suffered an 8.9 magnitude earthquake off its coast followed by a tsunami, which turned streets into a torrent of raging sea water in just 6 minutes. Nobody wants that to happen again due to the lives lost and the damage caused, but the suggested solution is a ridiculously expensive mega sea wall.

What the Japanese authorities are proposing is to build a coastal wall that would be 250 miles long and 12.5 meters high in places. The cost of such a structure is expected to be an eye watering $7 billion. And as we all know with such large scale projects–they never stay on budget.

Opinions are split on whether the wall is a good idea. As well as being very expensive, it would be constructed out of not very environmentally friendly concrete. There’s also the question of how much of a negative impact it would have on marine wildlife as well as blocking the view of the sea in a number of locations. This is also a wall that will require regular maintenance, which isn’t going to be cheap.

The 2011 earthquake and tsunami counted as a major disaster. It affected 4.4 million homes and resulted in the Fukushima nuclear plant meltdown. The total cost of fixing the damage is expected to reach $34 billion, which makes a $7 billion sea wall look relatively cheap.

No real alternatives to the wall have been suggested beyond people moving and living on higher ground. But with Japan already quite limited in terms of space, that’s not likely ever going to be a realistic ask.